How the Times Have Changed

Over the past few weeks, America has witnessed Republican Presidential Nominee, John McCain, and Democratic Presidential Nominee, Barack Obama, engage in three seperate debates against each other. The first and third debates seemed to stick with what we now believe to be the traditional style of debate, but the second one resembled a town hall format. The 2008 Presidential debates are different than the Lincoln-Douglas Illinois senatorial debates. Both sets of debates discussed different issues and the candidates had different tactics for swaying the public.

One of the most discussed issues during the 2008 Presidential debates was the reduction of taxes. CNN's article, "McCain puts Obama on the spot in final debate," states that Obama wishes to increase taxes for businesses that gross over $250,000 a year, providing a tax break for the majority of Americans. During the Lincoln-Douglas debates tax breaks and economic stability was not a major focus of either candidate; Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas discussed the heated topic of the abolishment of slavery in America. Douglas supported the idea of democratically elected slavery; each state could vote whether slavery should be abolished or not, within that specific state. Lincoln felt that the federal government should abolish slavery, but supported what the American public truly felt was the right decision. As you can see, the 2008 Presidential debates seemed to focus on economic solutions to the free market meltdown, and the Lincoln-Douglas debates approached the constitutionality of slavery and the division of power between federal and state government.

Although the Lincoln-Douglas debates did have a couple instances of negative attacks on the opposing candidate, the 2008 Presidential debates contained far more accusations than actual presentation of policies. During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Douglas accused Lincoln of complaining about the Supreme court ruling of the Dred Scott case. According to the National Park Service's transcript of the 7th debate, in response to the accusation, Lincoln stated,

“I have done no such thing, and Judge Douglas so persistently insisting that I have done so, has strongly impressed me with the belief of a predetermination on his part to misrepresent me. He could not get his foundation for insisting that I was in favor of this negro equality any where else as well he could by assuming that untrue proposition.”

Douglas' claim was a manipulation of Lincoln's lack of a response and was absolutely false.

During the third debate, John McCain began focusing his tactics on casting Barack Obama in a bad light. The New York Times' article, Candidates Clash Over Character and Policy, McCain stated,

"...We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama’s relationship with Acorn, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.”

McCain is attempting to cast Barack Obama in a bad light in order to sway the opinions of the undecided voters.